Ohio overdose deaths hit another record high

Prescription pain relievers involved in 45 percent

Apr. 27, 2013

Written by

Russ Zimmer

CentralOhio.com

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is today

The semiannual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is a way for people to dispose of the unused and unwanted prescription medication accumulating in their medicine cabinets. The Drug Enforcement Administration, which partners with local law enforcement agencies for the collection, says the last five take-back days have removed 1,018 tons of medications from circulation. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today. Collection sites can be found at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback.

The most lethal drugs of abuse

Opiates, including prescription pain relievers and their chemical cousin heroin, were involved in more than 65 percent of fatal unintentional drug overdoses in 2011.

2011

2010

Drugs Involved*

Drugs Involved*

Area

All

Rx Opioids

Heroin

All

Rx Opioids

Heroin

Ohio

1,765

789

426

1,544

694

338

Muskingum County

2

0

0

5

1

0

Perry County

4

4

0

4

1

0

Morgan County

1

0

1

1

0

0

*Multiple drugs can be involved in a single overdose Source: Ohio Department of Health

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Here’s hoping 2011 was the crest in prescription-drug fueled wave of overdose deaths sweeping through Ohio.

A record 1,765 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses in 2011, according to data released Friday afternoon by the Ohio Department of Health. The previous year, 2010, had a then-record 1,544 accidental drug deaths. In 2001, 555 people died from non-suicidal drug overdoses.

Prescription opioids were named on 789 death certificates, or 45 percent of the overdose deaths, according to state data. That was almost the exact share those medications held in 2010.

Opioids are a class of legal pain relievers, including OxyContin and Vicodin, that share a similar chemical structure to heroin. The health department has noted previously the death wrought by prescription drug abuse in the past 10 years far surpasses that which sprung from the heroin and crack-cocaine epidemics of previous decades.

Despite the climbing body count, there is no reason to think the situation is continuing to deteriorate today, said Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.

Hall, the governor’s point man on the proliferation of opiate addiction in the state, said a number of reforms, which were enacted in 2011 and continue to be rolled out, are aimed principally at reducing the volume of prescription opioids in circulation.

Tied to an awareness campaign, the hope is that the more difficult it is to get these drugs, the fewer new users. That won’t happen overnight, he said.

“This is a problem that has been building in our state since 1997,” Hall told CentralOhio.com on Friday. “I don’t know that it’s realistic for us to think we can turn a battleship on a dime.”

The re-emergence of heroin in recent years has complicated Ohio’s path to recovery, he said. Relatively cheap and in abundance, black-tar heroin can satisfy the cravings of an opiate addict just as powerfully as a pill can.

“Heroin has inundated the environment, and it’s making our work much more complicated and the stakes much higher,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. ... My suspicion is that, over time, as we see those prescription (drug deaths) decline, that we’ll see those heroin numbers increase.”

Drugs have almost killed Cory Gillum twice. The 31-year-old said his brother found him blue, near death from too many benzodiazepines, at their Chillicothe home in 2005. “Benzos,” as they’re sometimes called, include brand names such as Valium and Xanax and were involved in one out of every five overdose deaths in 2011.

Gillum said it was just this past year that he wasn’t responding when paramedics placed the paddles of a defibrillator on his chest and shocked him back to consciousness after a heroin overdose.

He had been using drugs since his early teens, but it wasn’t until a serious car crash in 2003 resulted in an OxyContin prescription that he found his drug of choice.

“I did the pills for years, and that’s what led to me to heroin,” Gillum said. “(Heroin) was just starting to come around, and it was a lot cheaper.”

After his last overdose, Gillum tried rehab again — and this time it stuck. He’s been clean for nine months and is one class away from graduating from the Chillicothe campus of Ohio University. He’s set to start an internship at the Counseling Center, a substance abuse treatment facility in Portsmouth.

Hall and Tracy Plouk, the director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health, have been two of the most ardent supporters of Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to expand Medicaid in preparation for the 2014 rollout of President Barack Obama’s signature health care reforms. That proposal was struck down in the Ohio House, and its prospects to be included in the state budget seem dim.

Hall, who said the fight for Medicaid expansion is not done, said no population would benefit more from comprehensive health coverage than substance abusers.

When asked whether the $50 million bump for addiction and mental health services proposed by the House was enough, Hall said he was appreciative but “it’s not even close.”

“It’s of a different magnitude and order,” Hall said. “The treatment that will ultimately be required will not be inexpensive.”

Once the supply of prescription painkillers on the street begins to dry up, as is the state’s plan, the addiction will remain. People will need treatment if they want to get back on their feet.

Gillum said he was reticent to talk publicly about his history with drugs. He’s hoping that news of his turnaround will find its way to the crowd he used to run with and serve as an example.

He wants them to know that he still fights the temptation to lose control from time to time but that he’s addressing his underlying issues and keeping a positive attitude.

“With all the misery and everything that goes along with drugs,” Gillum said, “people tend to forget why we do it in the first place: It feels good. ... I have to fast-forward in my head to what will happen after that initial relapse, how bad it’s going to get.”